602 Squadron

602 SQUADRON

Motto:

Cave leonem cruciatum - 'Beware the tormented lion'

Badge:

In front of a saltire, a lion rampant. The lion was adopted in view of the squadron's association with Scotland and the saltire to represent the cross of St Andrew, being fimbriated to show it as a white saltire on a blue background.

History of 602 Squadron:

No 602 Squadron was formed on 12 September 1925 at Renfrew as a day bomber unit of the Auxiliary Air Force. Initially equipped with DH9As it began to replace these with Fawns in September 1927, though the latter were in turn replace by Wapitis in 1929. Harts began to arrive in February 1934 and the squadron re-equipped with Hinds in June 1936. On 1 November 1938 No 602 was redesignated an army co-operation squadron, but on 14 January 1939 this was changed to become a fighter unit, Gauntlets being received. These were replaced by Spitfires in May 1939 and during the early months of the war the squadron was engaged in intercepting German bombing raids on Scotland. When the Battle of Britain began, No 602 was still in Scotland, moving south in mid-August and returning in December. In July 1941 it arrived in south-east England to take part in sweeps over France for a year before moving back to Scotland. In January 1943 the squadron moved to south-west England for convoy protection and escort missions and in April was part of the first group of squadrons which were to form the new Second TAF. After taking part in sweeps over France, it moved back to Scotland for defensive duties in January 1944, coming south again in March to begin fighter-bomber missions in preparation for the invasion. By the end of June, No.602 was operating from airstrips in Normandy and moved forward with the Army to Belgium before returning to the UK in September to fly sweeps over the Netherlands against V-2 rocket launching sites and their transport. It remained in East Anglia until disbanded on 15 July 1945.

On 10 May 1946, No.602 reformed as a fighter squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force and assembled at Abbotsinch on 11 June. Spitfires began to arrive in October and these were replaced by Vampires from January 1951. Flying was carried out from Renfrew for a period from July 1949 while maintenance was based on Abbotsinch until July 1951, when the squadron was fully established at Renfrew. Increasing civil traffic resulted in a final move to Abbotsinch in June 1954, where No.602 disbanded on 10 March 1957.